Hi all! I've been looking into blues/folk/bluegrass festivals around SoCal and looks like there are several going on this summer. Does anyone have any recommendations for specific festivals to attend to help narrow down the options? Thanks in advance!

Sentimentality is the critic’s enemy, but it was an emotion impossible to avoid a week ago Tuesday at what had been announced as the Allman Brothers Band’s final show. Even for a marginal fan like me, the finale was a powerful affirmation of how, at two stages of its disjointed 45-year career, the Allmans were rock’s pre-eminent live band, marrying electric blues, modal jazz and what came to be known as Southern rock.

The concert took place at the Beacon Theatre, where the group had played some 230 shows since 1989, and it was filled with fans for whom the Allmans could do no wrong. But even the band’s most rabid supporters have to acknowledge the Allmans’ spotty history. It began in 1969 in Jacksonville, Florida, with a band comprised of Duane and Gregg Allman and four other musicians, and continued over the next several decades with the deaths of some members, the integration of new members, break-ups and reunions, and a number of memorable recordings.

I began following them in earnest in ’70, but lost interest in ’73 after the release of “Eat A Peach,” which contained great guitarist Duane Allman’s last work prior to his death two years earlier. Afterward, the bite and daring that had been abundant under his whip-crack leadership was only an occasional presence, as second guitarist Dickey Betts moved the group toward country rock.

In ’89, Warren Haynes joined the Allman Brother Band, giving it a guitarist who approached Duane Allman’s talent; and as a vocalist, he was almost equal to Gregg Allman, an exceptional blues singer who continued to man the keyboards. Mr. Betts departed bitterly; and with Mr. Haynes and Derek Trucks, who joined in ’99, the band’s core was once again a formidable guitar duo. I would entertain the thought that this generation of the Allman Brothers Band could challenge the original. That final lineup, which also featured drummers and founding members Jai Johanny Johanson and Butch Trucks as well as bassist Oteil Burbridge and percussionist Marc Quiñones, was together for 14 years, the longest tenure of any Allman Brothers’ lineup.

I began to look forward to the Allmans’ Beacon runs, and after each concert would tell friends about what I’d heard. When they would ask what had been the best song that night, I’d reply that that was like asking about the best frame around a picture in an art gallery. No matter how well crafted and feverishly sung by Messrs. Allman or Haynes, the songs served to introduce dazzling instrumental improvisations, with melodic solos building at breakneck speed that were supported by exemplary communication among Mr. Burbridge and the percussionists. Though I had savored Weather Report and the best Santana bands in concert, I would listen in amazement during the whirlwind at Allmans shows and think, “This kind of music cannot be played better than is being done right now.”

Though long departed, Duane Allman was present at the Beacon Theatre finale. Three of his guitars were on hand for Messrs. Haynes and Trucks to use, and the band’s opening medley kicked off with his composition “Little Martha.” As if his spirit was driving the band—at that moment, such things seemed possible—they ripped through three sets. The interaction between the guitarists was uncanny, and a fierce, friendly competition emerged, especially in a reading of “Black Hearted Woman” that included a section from the Grateful Dead’s “The Other One.”

Young Mr. Trucks took the first solo during “Blue Sky” before stepping aside for Mr. Haynes, who played tight, bop-like notes before concluding with a repeating motif so Mr. Burbridge and the drummers could move percussion to the fore. Revisiting its familiar renditions of songs by Willie Cobbs, King Curtis, Elmore James and Sonny Boy Williamson, but with added heat, the band cemented its place in the pantheon of great American blues artists. Sitting at stage right behind the Hammond B-3 organ, Gregg Allman growled and excelled on his classic compositions including “Midnight Rider” and “Melissa,” the latter a Duane Allman favorite that on this occasion was performed with the lights out.

Fittingly, the show pushed into the early hours of the 43rd anniversary of Duane Allman’s death, ending at 1:25 a.m. It was pure coincidence. The finale had originally been scheduled for March but was postponed owing to Gregg Allman’s bronchitis.

After the third-set encore closed with “Whippin’ Post,” Gregg Allman addressed the audience from center stage and made it clear the long journey of the Allman Brothers Band was over. The musicians hugged behind the drum kits, and then returned to play Muddy Waters’ “Trouble No More,” the first song the original lineup had performed in rehearsal on March 26, 1969.

And then the end. Too soon the luscious warmth of the experience gave way to the realization that never again would the Allman Brothers Band make incomparable improvisational music. I realized then that the glow of memory would not suffice: I wanted to hear them do it again.